# Facebook Messenger 36 Hacker News commenters recommended Facebook Messenger and 90 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Recommended for chatting with friends and family, voice calls, and multi-device use. Main caveat: the desktop app and messenger.com are going away, and people doubt its message privacy. ## Why people recommend it - Keeps in touch with friends and family (3 comments): "The only reason why I didn't delete facebook is messenger, where I chat with old folks." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47110887)) "I keep Messenger app to chat with my college peeps." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47053511)) "messenger connecting people" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48340278)) - Voice calls with known contacts (2 comments): "I use on Messenger and Whatsapp much more often for voice calls, and you know exactly who is calling." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49256512)) "You could call your friends on messenger or WhatsApp" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50073944)) - Lets you avoid the main Facebook site (3 comments): "messenger.com was nice if you've blocked the facebook.com domain to try to use less social media" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47052972)) "thank the heavens for this app which means I rarely need to open Facebook itself" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49658616)) "helped me to break from FB addiction" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47053816)) - Chat history syncs across devices (2 comments): "I like FB Messenger because all the state is stored on there instead of being annoying about E2EE" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49281307)) "all support multi-device and it's pretty convenient" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47776322)) ## What people warn about - Doubts about encryption and privacy (2 comments): "nobody should believe for a second that WhatsApp or FB messages are truly E2EE" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47252284)) "can't you just have your keys on fb servers encrypted with another set of keys derived from your password, which is much stronger than a 4-6 digit key?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47777544)) - Desktop app and web access removed (2 comments): "I'm honestly incredibly surprised they would get rid of the desktop app just as desktop messaging apps have become their most important." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47053145)) "You can't use Facebook Messenger on the web at all, unless you go to Facebook and switch to the desktop version." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46063380)) - Pushy engagement prompts and dark patterns (2 comments): "facebook.com/messages has the notifications, there's no way to turn them off." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47054492)) "You have whole Facebook bar on top with the notification bell, with unread notifications dark pattern." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47055199)) - Concerns about link blocking and audio recording (2 comments): "Messenger would block certain links, including links to news outlets to curry favour with organisations and governments." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48208513)) "They were recording audio on Facebook app and messenger for the longest time without a people using the microphone." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47042987)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Pidgin](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pidgin.md): 30 recommend - [Beeper](https://hackerapproved.com/p/beeper.md): 29 recommend - [Dino XMPP client](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dino.md): 21 recommend - [Element X](https://hackerapproved.com/p/element-x.md): 18 recommend - [Teams for Linux](https://hackerapproved.com/p/unofficial-microsoft-teams-client-for-linux.md): 16 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.messenger.com/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Facebook Messenger", https://hackerapproved.com/p/facebook-messenger/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).